Dick Scanlan and Sherie Rene Scott, who collaborated on the Tony-nominated Everyday Rapture, have been working with 13 men incarcerated in Woodbourne Correctional Facility in Sullivan County.

Dick Scanlan and Sherie Rene Scott
Photo by Aubrey Reuben

Scanlan and Scott joined forces with their friend Shawn Fischer — who volunteers with Rehabilitation Through The Arts to teach acting, movement, improvisation and comedy to incarcerated men — to lead a personal narratives workshop. Together, they worked with each man to create a three-five minute monologue based on his life.

"It was a happy coincidence that Sherie and Dick were available and interested in teaching exactly what the men were interested in learning," Fischer said in a statement. "We focus on crafting each story for theatrical presentation. We don't comment on the sadness or intensity of the content, creating a safe place for the men to view the work objectively."

Scanlan and Scott added, "When we are writing any story, be it our own story or something fictional, we spend a lot of time talking about our need to tell that story, because we believe that if we really need to tell it, people will really want to hear it. Each man at Woodbourne has spent much of his time behind bars thinking about ‘how did I get here from where I started?' By facing the twists and turns in their lives, we find we are better able to understand our own journeys."

This programming is provided by Rehabilitation Through The Arts (RTA), a volunteer organization founded in Sing Sing in 1996.

The men will present their personal narratives June 9 to invited prisoners and outside guests in Woodbourne Correctional Facility, Woodbourne, NY.